Reflexive Awareness: Cross-Traditional Convergence
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) March 16, 2026 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19051951 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that physicalist epistemology disqualifies reports of non-egoic reflexive awareness before investigating them, and that once this precondition is removed, cross-traditional reports from Buddhist, Advaitic, Christian contemplative, and Daoist traditions become legible as data forming a coherent phenomenological pattern that any complete account of consciousness must address. |
Abstract
Abstract: Under standard physicalist epistemology, reports of awareness that knows itself without ego, narration, or subject–object structure are classified as confusion or confabulation before their epistemic status is even assessed. The disqualification is not the outcome of investigation but its precondition — built into what counts as legitimate experience. This essay examines what becomes visible once that precondition is removed. If the insistence that genuine knowing requires a brain and a subject–object structure is an assumption rather than a necessity, the cross-traditional reports of non-egoic reflexive awareness — arising independently across Buddhist, Advaitic, Christian contemplative, and Daoist traditions — become legible as data rather than dismissible as confusion. The essay surveys these reports at a structural level, distinguishes carefully between subjectivity, experience, reflexive awareness, meta-consciousness, and egoic selfhood, and shows that what emerges is not mystical agreement but a coherent phenomenological pattern — one that any complete account of consciousness must address. Keywords: reflexive awareness · non-egoic consciousness · cross-traditional phenomenology · Buddhist philosophy · Advaita Vedanta · Christian mysticism · Daoism · subject-object structure Part of the Return to Consciousness research program — 26 philosophical essays exploring consciousness-first metaphysics. Full project: https://returntoconsciousness.org/